


A Kiss to Wake

by A Small World (Datawolf39)



Series: Caring for The Doctor [6]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: BS Science, Fluff, Oodles the plushie, Sickfic, TARDIS cares about her time lady, The Doc is actually Little for a bit in this one, Vastra is awesome, bs Silurian customs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:33:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22318678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Datawolf39/pseuds/A%20Small%20World
Summary: Vastra helps The Doctor
Series: Caring for The Doctor [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1599967
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38





	A Kiss to Wake

**Author's Note:**

> Took a while, but thank heavens for the return of the fluff.  
> Thanks for all the kudos and comments on this series, wrote it expecting no response, so I'm thrilled to have gotten what I have.

The sound of the TARDIS landing, startled Graham, and Ryan from the calmness that had settled over them. Ryan looked at Graham, and saw confusion and worry mirrored back at him. The Doctor was too ill to pilot the ship, so who had landed them, and, just as importantly, when, and where were they now?

They headed for the control room, there, they would have the answer the first part of the question, and a glance out the door would answer the rest. 

"Something is wrong with The Doctor," Yasmin said when they ran into her in the hallway. “An alarm went off, and I did what the TARDIS told me to do, but she doesn’t look very well.”

"Probably why we landed. Maybe someone here can help," Graham speculated.

A knock on the TARDIS made all of them jump.

"Open up the door and surrender to the glory of the Sontaran Empire!"

"Strax!" another voice reprimanded. 

"Apologies. Now open the door!"

They all looked at one another, wondering what they should do.

Suddenly, the door opened. In walked a very odd trio. One looked like a squat, humanoid, free-range egg in blue armor, one was definitely a human woman, she was attired in a dark gray dress, and the other was a green-skinned lizard woman in a black dress.

Something The Doctor told Graham came back to him. She had asked how he felt about lizards, after he had mention Sherlock Holmes. Did that mean this lizard woman was a detective of some kind?

"Where is The Doctor, and what has he done to himself this time?" the lizard woman asked in an exasperated tone.

Graham shook away his shock. "Herself actually. She's sick, and I guess the ship thinks you all can help her."

The lizard lady, obviously knowing the layout of the ship, walked swiftly down the hall, until she arrived in the Sickbay. "Doctor what have you done to yourself now?" she sighed, as she looked at the readings the TARDIS was giving.

"Has she taken anything for her illness?" 

"Yeah, some kind of dark gray medicine."

"Was it bitter?"

"Yes. Do you know what it was?"

"A drug to treat a certain type of influenza that most species are immune to."

"Let me guess, The Doctor’s one of the species that aren't immune," Yasmin said.

“Correct.”

"Will she be okay?" Ryan asked.

"She’ll be weak for a few days, but I can-”

An alarm started to blare.

“How long has she been ill!?

“We noticed yesterday-”

“So a week or so then. Very well, desperate measures.” The lizard lady locked lips with The Doctor. 

The Doctor woke, coughing and sputtering, and blinking rapidly. “Silurian venom.” she said around the coughing. “ is extremely deadly why would you- Vastra did you _kiss_ me?”

“It was the only way,” the lizard lady, Vastra, said.

“Was it?” the human lady that had entered with her, asked, glaring at Vastra. 

“My love, it was either kiss or die,” Vastra said quite seriously, even if she was looking a little sheepish by the end of it.

“Hello Jenny,” The Doctor managed.

“Is it really you Doctor?”

The Doctor coughed again. “Yup, know it’s a bit of a change, being female and all, but not so bad, don’t wear it as well as you two, but I get by. Hey there potato one,” she said noticing Strax. “I think... I’m going to pass out now,” and she did.

~

The Doctor woke alone. She still felt very ill, and really warm. It would only last a dew days thanks to Vastra’s venom. She could feel it eating away the virus, and because of low dose, the venom would make her feel ill, but it would fade in a few days, without any residual harm. Part of her wanted to sleep through it or simply retain her public persona at least while there was a chance that Vastra, Jenny, and Strax were still around somewhere, but she was ill, and alone, and she wanted someone there to make it better.

The public persona shattered like glass dropped to the hard ground, and it was all she could do to keep her cries silent, as she slipped off the bed. She swayed, closing her eyes to ward off the dizziness.

“Back in bed Doctor, you really are not well,” Vastra said as she walked in the door. “Doctor is everything alright?”

The Doctor, who’s eyes had opened in surprise the moment that Vastra spoke, kept her gaze on the ground, and nodded.

“Doctor,” her voice was stern, and The Doctor’s ability to even pretend that everything was as it should be, broke. Even as her body moved she wondered if Vastra would hate her for what she was going to do. Despite being unsteady, she crashed into Vastra, and held on. “‘M sorry, I don’t want- but I can’t.”

Vastra held her tightly. “Ah, I see, have you regressed, Doctor?”

The Doctor jumped. Vastra shouldn’t know about that.

“It’s alright, I promise. I learned of your… habit, the last time you regenerated. You didn’t become quite so young then, more like a stubborn teenager, but I recognized it for what it was.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“You seemed to want it to be a secret. I’m guessing this version of you goes a bit younger.”

The Doctor nodded.

“Where were you going?”

“My room. I didn’t like being alone.”

“I’m sorry you woke up alone, we’ve all been staying in shifts.”

“It’s okay,” The Doctor said, happy that they hadn’t just left her alone on purpose.

“Shall I help you to your room?”

The Doctor nodded, only to gasp in surprise as the Silurian lifted her up.

“I can walk,” she protested frowning at the sense of deja vu.

Vastra simply smiled, and made her way to The Doctor’s room.

“How did you know?” 

“Hmm?”

“Bout my regression,” The Doctor murmured.

“I’ve observed the tendencies in humans, however, there is something in Silurian culture that’s similar. We called it,” here was that a noise that the TARDIS couldn’t translate into a word, “which meant the ‘return to what once was’. When a Silurian reached a certain age or simply became too consumed by their work, they had to undergo it. A schedule was laid out, and they were watched over by the most nurturing souls. Through that, equilibrium was regained, and in effect, we had very competent caste members. Ah, I believe we have arrived,” she said pushing open the door in front of her.

“Oodles,” The Doctor said, making grabby hands for the plush ood sitting in a place of honor on the bed.

“Would you like to rest here?” Vastra asked plucking the toy from its spot, and handing it to The Doctor.

The Doctor squeezed Oodles in a tight hug, and shook her head. “Jus wanted Oodles. I feel sick, but not sleepy.”

“Shall we play a game then? That would give you something else to focus and it’s a game that does not require much energy.”

“Can Oodles watch?”

“Of course he can.”

“Okay.”

Vastra carried her out of the TARDIS, and into the sitting room of the dwelling she called home. After sitting The Doctor in a chair, Vastra gathered the pieces for the game.

“Rules?” The Doctor asked looking over the board.

“One rule. You choose the way your pieces move, and they move like that for the whole game.”

“How do you win?”

“When one piece meets another, you have to guess what their movement was. Get it right, you take the piece, guess wrong, the other person gets a turn. If both are wrong that round is a draw. First to get all the other’s pieces wins.”

The Doctor smiled, this was going to be fun.


End file.
